 ISLAMIC preacher Sheik Khalid Yasin will struggle to return to Australia after making inflammatory comments about September 11 and suicide bombings. He has also been accused of fraud. Sheik Yasin, a US-born Islamic convert influenced by Malcolm X, has travelled in and out of Australia for years, lecturing to Islamic community groups and schools.
| Y'know, I haven't been to Australia yet. Can't afford the plane fare. Where's this holy man get that much dough? |
Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson yesterday said Sheik Yasin should seek psychiatric help over his belief al-Qaida was not responsible for the World Trade Centre attacks. "It's possible he needs some professional assistance," Dr Nelson said. "If I drew on my medical background, perhaps a psychiatrist may be able to help him."
| Or at least administer some fairly strong sedatives when he gets violent... |
Sheik Yasin was recently in Australia raising money for a planned international Muslim TV station based in Britain. But it was reported documents used by Sheik Yasin to promote the station to investors in Australia were fake.
"Ummm... This document — it's written in crayon."
"Oh. Sorry. That's my passport." |
It was also said parts of a resume provided to Australia's Department of Immigration in support of a visa application were false.
| "Wow! You were Secretary General of the UN?" |
Sheik Yasin is believed to be at his adopted home in the English city of Sheffield.
"Reporters to see you, effendi!"
"Tell 'em I ain't here, Mahmoud!" |
The sheik, a conspiracy theory enthusiast, told Channel 9's Sunday program explosives were placed inside the Twin Towers on September 11 by an unknown shadowy group to bring them down and that the attacks were not the work of Osama bin Laden. He said the AIDS virus was created in the US and spread through Africa by Western missionaries to limit population growth and backed the introduction of the death penalty for homosexuals.
| By packing them full of dynamite or by injecting them with AIDS? |
The sheik said he did not condone suicide bombing, but he did understand it. "Is it justified? Islamically, it is not. But it can be understood in the context of perpetuated, protracted oppression that brought about a sense of madness," Sheik Yasin said.
| "I mean, we're all nuts, just in different ways, right? That's what they always tell me. So us Islamists are entitled to our own nuttiness, ain't we?" |
A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General's department said Sheik Yasin's views were well-known to security agencies but declined to say if the American had been shadowed by ASIO when last in Australia. "If authorities became aware that a person was a security risk they would take appropriate action to prevent them from coming here," the spokeswoman said.
| "On the other hand, he's probably just a clown, so we can safely ignore him." |
Dr Nelson said he would oppose the sheik being allowed back into the country. "I think that we have got to be extremely concerned when he can come to our country and target young Muslim men," Dr Nelson said. |